Before You Delete That Automation

You open an old workflow and find a step, a tag, or a whole automation you don't remember building. The first thought is usually "why do we have this?" The second is "let's delete it." And a few seconds later comes the third: "wait, what if it's holding something up?"

Most of us decide based on mood. Brave day, delete it. Tired day, leave it alone. Both skip the same step.

What Advanced Businesses Notice

Newer businesses tend to judge their operations by how they look. Messy must be bad, tidy must be good, so whatever looks pointless gets deleted and whatever looks official gets kept.

Businesses further along ask a different question: what was this built to do? Every automation, form, tag, and pipeline stage started as a fix for a real problem. Sometimes that problem is long gone and the system is just dead weight. Sometimes the problem is still very much alive, and the odd-looking thing is the only reason it isn't causing trouble. From the outside, you can't tell which. A short investigation can.

Why This Happens

There's an old idea called Chesterton's Fence, after the writer G.K. Chesterton. If you find a fence across a road and can't see why it's there, don't tear it down until you've found out why someone put it up. Not seeing the reason isn't the same as there being no reason.

In business, that blind spot runs in both directions. "We don't know why it's here" isn't a reason to delete it. "It's always been here" isn't a reason to keep it. The point isn't to never remove anything. It's to understand it first, then decide.

Know Why It Exists

That's the O in our FOXY Method™: Optimize Your Operations. Before you change a system, know what it was built to do. Once you do, choosing to keep it, change it, or retire it gets a lot less stressful.

This week's Sunday FOXY Focus email goes a step further, with a three-level action (Good, Better, Best) that meets you where you are, a reflection question, and a Fox Tip you can use right away.

Are you a Social Fox™ member? Want a second set of eyes on a system you can't explain? Bring it to the Tuesday Strategy Spot.